Francisco Toledo

BIOGRAPHY

Francisco Toledo, Oaxaca, Mexico, b. 1940

One of Mexico’s most important artists Francisco Toledo was born in Juchitan in the state of Oaxaca. He attended Benito Juarez Autonomous University in the capital of Oaxaca. Toledo additionally studied at the Taller Libre de Grabado in Mexico City where he met Rufino Tamayo. He later lived in Paris working in the studio of Stanley William Hayter from 1960 -1965.

Toledo works in an erotic, scatological, humorous, and mythical vein. “What I do is a mixture of things, but the pre-Hispanic world has been a source of inspiration; there are certain solutions that are decorative that come from pre-Hispanic art and at the same time there is much primitive art that is refined or simple but also very modern.” – Francisco Toledo

Toledo helped to establish the Museo de Arte Contemporeáno de Oaxaca (MACO). He founded the Centro Cultural Santo Domingo in Oaxaca. In November 1998, he received the Premio Nacional de las Artes. He was honored in 2000 with an international retrospective at the Whitechapel Gallery of London, England and the Museo Reyna Sofia, Madrid, Spain. Toledo is in many major collections including: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca, Mexico; Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico; and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA.